There were quite a few comics targeted at younger readers this year. I won’t hit all of the kid-centered ones but I’ll highlight 12 of what I thought were the best in 2 parts; the 1st 4 are in Part 1 here, the second 4 are in Part 2 here, and the final 4 will be along tomorrow. As adult fans I think we often forget about kids and reading that is geared at bringing the younger readers into the fold as comic fans. Fortunately there are a lot of publishers out there who are dedicated to putting out great comics geared at younger readers (that can often be enjoyed by adults as well!). Get some of these comics for kids in your life, your kids or friends kids. Make comic readers out of them, it’s never too early to start!

I’ve gone on about how much I love Don Rosa before, he’s right up there with Carl Barks for me. Here we get 2 stories by Rosa at his best: A Matter of Some Gravity in which long time Scrooge nemesis Magica DeSpell gives Scrooge & Donald “sideways personal gravity” while trying to steal Scrooge’s Number One Dime and Sign of the Triple Distelfink in which we learn about the origin of Gladstone Gander’s phenomenal luck. These are reprints, but reprinted form comics with low circulation so you may not have seen them before and heck, they’re worth a re-read anyway. Any fan of Disney Ducks or anyone who ever wanted to know what all the fuss was about the Ducks and why they have such a fan following should check this out.

Th3rd World has quietly been putting out some great All-Ages fantasy for years, their premiere offering in my opinion is The Stuff of Legend, and these 2 series that I’ve now been introduced to are great additions to the stable at Th3rd World. Finding Gossmyr has fabulous art by Sarah Ellerton that is in the vein of Disney/Pixar and does a great job of introducing us to the world and some key players. There is a HC of the 1st volume available and I’m going to have to be checking this out!

Past the Last Mountain gives a taste of another fantasy in a slightly different vein, as it’s that style of story where fantasy is encroaching on the standard modern world and we get people in business suits mixed in with fantastic creatures and story elements. I’m intrigued. We get 2 stories written by Paul Allor, the first illustrated by Thomas Boatwright and the second by Chris Evenhuis. Very different styles between the 2 artists, they both worked for me in the context of the stories, but I’m leaning a bit more towards Boatwright for what I’d like to see as a prevalent look for the series. This is advertised as “Coming This Fall” and I’ll be keeping my eyes open.

If you’ve never read Courtney Crumrin comics before and are curious to try them out, this is a great introduction. Courtney is a young girl who learns she can do magic after her family moves in with her uncle Aloysius who is one of the world’ most powerful warlocks. This is another fantasy that straddles the world of regular school and forests full of magical creatures. Kids who like this sort of story will eat this up and it’s perfectly enjoyable by adults as well. This story does a great job of introducing Courtney, key cast members and setting, and the world, but isn’t a “done in one” story, more of a teaser that will get you interested in picking up the collected editions if you like what you see here.

Most people know who the Simpson are and what they’re all about, the show has been on the air for 20+ years. This comic does a great job of telling a bunch of short standalone stories that have some great humor for people with even a moderate familiarity with the Simpsons and as an added bonus there are a LOT of insider Eater egg style jokes that are aimed directly at comics readers and fans of pop culture in general. form some pokes at super-hero origin tropes in the Bart/Milhouse story to a number of hilarious one-off gags in the Mr. Burns story. There’s a great Dr. Strange/Clea riff in the Professor Frink story, and the issue is capped with a jam-packed “Find Ralph Wiggum” page drawn by Sergio Aragones. This is a great issue to get fans of the TV show to try a comic and also to bring a smile to the face of long-time comics fans who don’t buy normally buy Bongo titles.